He is a tough, dedicated workaholic with a legendary bad temper. But veteran producer Scott Rudin's passion for literary fiction has brought a steady stream of high-quality films to the screen: The Hours, Notes on a Scandal, Revolutionary Road to name just a few, driven – he told the New York Times – by a "hugely romantic view of talent". For Rudin, 2008 was a vintage year; he -produced the two films that went head to head at the Oscars: There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men (the latter won him a share of best picture with the Coen brothers). In the run-up to the awards he told the Guardian: "In a funny way I'm much hungrier for it now than I ever was." He must be very hungry indeed, since he was appointed head of production at Fox while still in his 20s. Rudin also had the less -prestigious honour of once being crowned New York's Worst Boss by the website Gawker.com (he has reportedly been known to refer to employees as "wastes of skin"). His upcoming films include David's Fincher's US remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and a Stephen Daldry adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.